Covid infection rate drops in Goa, but Opposition targets govt over mismanagement

The opposition has demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Health Minister Vishwajit Rane for the spate of deaths in Goa Medical College

Despite the onslaught of Cyclone Tauktae which claimed two lives on Sunday, people in Goa heaved a sigh of relief over the weekend as the state's Covid infection rate dipped from a record 51 per cent to nearly 33 per cent on Sunday.

While the opposition has demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Health Minister Vishwajit Rane for the spate of deaths in the state's apex health institute, Goa Medical College, Sawant claimed that the lockdown has resulted in the lowering of the infection rate. He also said that a slew of measures undertaken to beef up the oxygen management system at the apex institute had managed to resolve the oxygen shortage issue for now.

"The situation is getting under control. We have seen the infection rate drop over the last couple of days," Sawant said.

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Dean of the Goa Medical College, Dr Shivanand Bandekar said that slowly but surely the number of cases was also coming under control. "The high spike was not reported in Goa, most places in the country were suffering a similar fate. But as you can see from the numbers, the cases are coming down now," Bandekar said.

On Sunday, 1,314 persons tested positive compared to the nearly 3,000 to 4,000 positive cases in the state earlier this week.

Currently, Goa's active cases (28,252) account for nearly 4 per cent of the state's population of 1.5 million, while nearly 9 per cent of Goa's resident population has tested positive for Covid-19 since the outbreak last year.

The Opposition has squarely blamed the BJP-led coalition government for the deaths as well as alleged corruption in the procurement of medicine and creation of infrastructure to tackle the pandemic.

"It is shocking that oxygen supply in various Covid wards was not even close to sufficient. There was no adequate supply of oxygen from the central system which hampered effective functioning of ventilators and other medical equipment, which led to the deaths," state Congress president Girish Chodankar said.

Read | Goa to borrow Karnataka's Covid treatment protocol to control cytokine storm in patients

The Congress has also alleged a scam worth crores of rupees in the procurement of ivermectin tablets, which the state government has now recommended as a preventive treatment of Covid-19 for all residents of Goa.

Health Minister Vishwajit Rane has however said that the Opposition should come up with constructive suggestions during a time of crisis, rather than making baseless allegations. "If the Opposition has constructive criticism, it is welcome. This is a pandemic and we are doing the best of what we can to save lives of the people of Goa," Rane said.